In my last post I mentioned doing some designing, the design was my blog makeover. Traditionally I overhaul the blog in July but I suddenly felt like doing it now and since it takes a lot of time and effort to get to a point I’m happy with it was best to do it there and then with the inspiration.

I had originally intended to go with a Black and White background with bright Red and White banner – something bold and edgy, but I couldn’t get it right try as I might. Then Mum woke up, we worked on it together and ended up with something totally different, something actually much bolder in its simplicity than the mosaic I was working on before. As usual I was fussy over ‘balance’ of colours, positioning etc finding it difficult but managed to make Mum’s ideas come to life in balance with my own.

Then later I found out that Sunday 15th June 2014 is Trinity Day…

So I was going to post this on Sunday but I’m running ahead of schedule. Trinity Day is usually thought of as the father/son(sun/light)/holy ghost(spirit) which is based on older triads e.g. the incestuous and insidious Shiv/Brahma/Vishnu (Vishnu more commonly known as Ram or Krishna) and their consort triad Laksmi/Pavarti/Saraswati. Those and other patriarchal triads such as Al-Lat/Al-Uzza/Manat, Qudshu/Astarte/Anat, Isis, Hecate, Brigid, Morrigan, the Spinners/Werdes later to become the Fates/Norns/Wyrds (based on the matriarchal MahaVidyas/Fibonacci Goddesses – servants of the Mother) were based on the more primal matriarchal Maid/Mother/Crone which is based on the original Daughter/Mother/Dark Mother aka Bala/Lalita/Kali or 3 from 1 Dea later called Sophia.

Since my blog design is based on a trinity from 1 aka all me but in three forms and the banner shows left to right the Mother, Dark Mother and Daughter it’s perfect. Ah synchronicity even to the colours of the banner text which kept my original thought for the colour scheme which I was later reminded had links to the Daughter/Mother/Dark Mother.

I really liked the raspberry ripple 3rd version, it was ‘sharp, young, hip’ but I feel at home with this one, I don’t even need time to ‘get used to it’.

For the sake of record here’s a screenshot of the last incarnation:

And here’s the previous makeover post I wrote on July 13th 2013, I don’t think I’ll need to do another.

Today I just felt the urge to do a blog theme makeover and so I did it and then realized it’s been almost a year since I did the last one! Can you say synchronicity?

I thought I’d go for a sharper, young and hip look – something stylish for a fashion and beauty blog though still artistic.

For new readers and those that still like the last look here’s a screenshot:

And here’s the last ‘blogiversary’ post I made which has some good points for those thinking about updating:

So it’s been almost a year since I started this blog and I’d been thinking for a while “the blog needs a new look, how can I update it, what should I do?” It went on like that for a while, a veritable mental block of um-ing and ah-ing, and a little trial and error. As my long term subscribers will know I’ve given the blog a face lift and made it more functional but I wanted a total makeover.

Then finally, during a Mercury retrograde prompt computer meltdown, I finally had enough and decided “just do it!”

I could have gone through the whole process of Q&A in a quick checklist fashion, which would have gone something like this:

1) What do I want the blog/theme to look like?

2) What do I want it to express?

3) What would my readers like?

4) Do I need to change the WP theme?

5) How much detail do I want?

6) How long with the look last and will it stay relevant?

Blah blah blah etc etc

All very important questions and considerations, but I’d been thinking about those in bits and bobs over the aforementioned dawdling period and so pulled up my bootstraps, got my act together and just started drawing.

I knew what elements I wanted to keep and what I was generally going for, I just didn’t know how I was going to achieve it, but once I started, it naturally came together in one go. Usually I have a few options/variations of any design but strangely enough I like this the way it is and I think that in itself is auspicious, or so I hope. That’s how it was with the first theme too, it was a quick process yet adequately expressed where I was at that point as a first time blogger. It was individual, arty, abstract with lot’s a bight, harmonious colour in a vibrant display of enthusiasm – my blog was new and it felt new.

Anyway – this new look is a development on the old. A simpler, more polished look yet still arty/fun, but cleaner. More focused. That doesn’t mean I know lots about blogging, but like the proverbial tortoise I’m steadily moving along and give thanks to my mother for being a constant inspiration and helper (and constant ‘most likely to give me a heart attack or breakdown at a young age’… ahem) 🙂

Here’s how it looked before, though certain features such as the title and tag line were recently changed/added:

I probably haven’t finished the new look, as with anything it will need tweaking but I think that it’s basically good to go. Therefore welcome to my re-fashioned blog, I hope you like it.